


Nephew

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: LAOFT Extras [87]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Implied/Referenced Pregnancy, M/M, Magic, Surrogate Pregnancy, implied/reference labor, will be more specific in the authors note because im bad at being succinct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21664366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: “The soul is healed by being with children,”- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Background LAMP, Logic | Logan Sanders & Thomas Sanders, Sanders Shorts Brain | Brian Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Sanders Shorts Heart | Harley Sanders & Original Female Characters, Sanders Shorts Heart | Harley Sanders/Thomas Sanders, Thomas Sanders & Original Female Characters
Series: LAOFT Extras [87]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1365505
Comments: 30
Kudos: 529





	Nephew

**Author's Note:**

> This fic discusses (though not with very much detail) the process of gestational surrogacy (carrying a child not genetically related to you). I know this can be a dicey topic for trans men/afab trans folks, so I’ll be very specific: Thomas (a cis man) and Harley (a trans man) have a child through their friend Hannah as a surrogate. Brian is genetically Thomas and Harley’s.
> 
> for the prompts:
> 
> "LAOFT prompt: Logan meets Brian for the first time!!!!!" (from @trivia-goddess)
> 
> Prompt Idea Thing: How Brian got his ‘gift’ from Logan and how it was received by Thomas and Harley. Please and thank. (from an anon)
> 
> At what age did Brian receive his gift from Logan? Was it Logan’s idea? How did it go? I love Brian SO MUCH I need to know (also an anon)
> 
> and thanks to Vivi for beta reading and also being the first person to prompt this!

Logan hadn’t really known Hannah, before this past year or so.

She was Harley’s best friend, but Logan had only met her a handful of times, when she’d come to Wickhills to visit him.

And then, well – this whole… _thing_ , and she’d been staying with Thomas and Harley in Wickhills for the duration. They were friends, now – or at least Logan was fairly certain they were – and he found himself incredibly anxious on her behalf.

Virgil, next to him, didn’t seem to be faring much better, though Logan had seen him flick his fingers in Hannah and May’s directions as they’d disappeared into the hall – as well as the “official” midwife, Thea, seeing as May was technically retired and literally not employed by this establishment – accompanied by all the hair on the back of Logan’s neck standing up. May had rolled her eyes and given him a dry look. Hannah had rolled hers as well, but she’d also given him an indulgent thumbs up. Thea had shuddered, but she didn’t seem to connect the dots to Virgil or magic.

Thomas himself had visibly relaxed – of the people present, and besides Logan himself, Thomas was probably the one with the _most_ experience with Virgil’s tendency to pass out good luck like Hazel passed out candy from her purse.

They were in the waiting room of the birthing center, which was actually a fair distance from Hannah’s room. Thomas had nervously stumbled his way through not even a quarter of an explanation before May explained that she “didn’t need two Good Neighbors with over-sensitive hearing twitching outside the damn door,” and forbidden them from the hallway.

Privately, Logan thought May ought to be grateful it _was_ Virgil and himself she was dealing with. They’d all been caught off guard - Hannah’s labor was scheduled for another two weeks from now, and Virgil and Logan were the only ones who’d been able to come with them. Logan couldn’t imagine that May could have kept Roman out of the room, with the way he was carrying on in the group chat and demanding play-by-plays of her spells so he could match them to the ones he was doing from work.

Logan was startled out of his reverie by Virgil pressing a kiss to his temple.

“He’s scared, but it hasn’t spiked,” said Virgil, “If something went wrong, I’d notice,”

“Thank you, dear,” said Logan, “That does help,”

Logan felt a teasing smile against his forehead.

“I’m sure you don’t want me to tell _Oma_ you doubted her,”

“You absolutely will _not,_ ” said Logan immediately.

“Oh, I didn’t say I wouldn’t, just that I know you don’t want me to,”

“I am not above bribery,”

“Well, now you’ve got me _very_ interested,”

Logan was stopped from responding by Virgil suddenly going stock still.

“ _What happened?”_

“Shhh,” Virgil relaxed, kissing Logan’s forehead again, “Good things, whatever they are. I guess not a lot to choose from,”

Logan was fairly certain Virgil meant for this to be calming information, but Logan found himself even _more_ keyed up.

Which was frustrating, because it was nearly another two hours before anything substantial happened aside from an ecstatic key-smash of a text from Thomas to both of them, and a significantly calmer and clearly amused message to one of the group chats from, of all of the possible people involved, _Hannah._

**From: H 2: Electric Boogaloo**

**[Goofballs being goofballs about bb sandypants pics to come when they chill]**

To which Mom and Dad had sent out several messages each of enthusiastic congratulations, and Roman and Patton multiple lines of emojis.

But at the other end of those two hours, Harley burst out of the cheerfully decal-ed glass doors and made a wordless noise of delight, gesturing insistently for the two of them to come with him.

They did, through more colorful hallways and into a room which had clearly been cleaned since what Logan could only imagine were the more messy parts of the ordeal. Hannah seemed far more put-together than Logan would have expected, and she and May were both wearing indulgent smiles as they watched Thomas coo at the little striped-green bundle in his arms.

“You’re just baby!” said Thomas, “That’s right, just baby!”

“I cannot believe you are memeing at our son after only two hours,”

“It’s always weird to hear humans lie blatantly,” said Virgil absentmindedly, “I can’t think of anything _more_ believable,”

Logan moved toward Thomas, coming around behind him to peer over his brother’s shoulder. Thomas tilted the bundle, and Logan eyed the little wrinkly, bright red face.

“He is… very small,” he said.

“A little,” Thomas admitted, “Five pounds and five ounces. He’s _short,_ though, he’s so round!”

Harley had moved around to the other side of Thomas and sat in the chair that was still crowded up beside him. He hooked his chin over Thomas’s shoulder with an absolutely besotted smile, and Logan couldn’t help but smile at both of them in turn.

There was a scraping behind him, and when Logan glanced back Virgil had brought over another chair. Logan thanked him with a squeeze to his hand and sat beside Thomas.

Only to be immediately alarmed when Thomas plopped the baby into his arms without so much as a single word.

Logan made a slightly strangled noise as Thomas started adjusting his arms around the infant.

“I knew if I said anything first you’d freak yourself out,” said Thomas, amused, “See? It’s not hard,”

Another strangled noise, and Logan heard Virgil snort behind him.

“Do you want to sleep on the couch?” he hissed over his shoulder which was a profoundly empty threat and everybody in the room knew it.

“So, Brian,” said Thomas, and Logan had a brief moment of confusion before he realized Thomas was addressing the child, “You can call this big flower-smelling guy Uncle Berry, and that spooky fella behind him there Uncle V,”

“He is hardly going to remember this conversation,” said Logan, squinting down at the- Brian. Brian squinted right back, though Logan doubted it was in response.

“Introductions are important,” said Harley.

“He’s so _small,_ ” Logan blurted, and then immediately felt very stupid, as he had already said that.

“Babies are like that,” said Harley dryly.

Brian wriggled suddenly, squeezing his tiny fist out of the blanket bundle and waving it around with a series of small grunts. He nearly whacked Logan in the face, and Logan caught the hand and held it still. Brian continued to make the sounds.

“He seems noisy,” said Virgil, setting his cheek on top of Logan’s head.

“Oh, definitely,” said Harley, “He’s a little chatterbox, he’s been going on the whole time,”

Logan didn’t quite feel… crowded, by Virgil standing behind him, and if he didn’t know better than to think Virgil would allow his hoodie to fall into disrepair he might have assumed the sleeves had some loose thread. But something was itching very irritably at the back of his neck, and seeing as Logan’s arms were thoroughly occupied he couldn’t do much to alleviate it.

Distracted again, when Brian squeezed his fist around Logan’s thumb. Logan barely felt it – Brian’s fingernails were smaller than pinheads, though they were surprisingly sharp where they feebly dug into Logan’s skin.

Logan bit back another comment about the size, because _yes_ , obviously, the newborn infant was small – Logan had no idea why he was so hung up on it. Brian was small because he was less than three hours old and had previously been living inside another human being. Babies were small – they were tiny little people-larva with no skills other than crying for help and no defenses other than what their caretakers could provide. They needed help with literally everything, including swallowing and supporting their own _heads,_ all the help they could possibly-

Logan froze.

“Thomas,” he said suddenly, “You need to take Brian,”

The other three must have been having a conversation, though Logan completely missed whatever sentence he’d cut off. Thomas frowned, leaning forward instantly.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“I don’t know, just _take the baby,_ Thomas,”

A half-truth – Logan _didn’t_ know what was happening, hadn’t the faintest idea, but he was by now very familiar with the magic thrumming just under his skin. It felt – something like accepting a promise, he thought, or a _vow,_ except it was trying to press _out_ , whatever it was, instead of drawing the promise into him.

“Berry, you gotta calm down first, you’re shaking,” said Thomas, squeezing Logan’s shoulders. Harley came around to hold his hands under Brian, because Logan was in fact trembling.

“Please just take him, it’s not _safe_ -”

“ _Berry,_ ” said Thomas firmly, “I can’t take Brian while you’re shaking like this. We might drop him. You have to relax,”

Virgil leaned over his shoulder then to press their cheeks together, and Logan managed to still. As soon as there was no danger of dropping him, Harley took Brian from him and Logan let out a sigh.

And then he tried to take his hand back, but Brian squeezed his thumb. It was stupid, because of course Logan could break the hold, but instead he just let Brian keep ahold of him, his thumb against Brian’s tiny palm.

“See?” said Thomas, “Everything’s alright. What happened, Berry, you were fine and then…?”

“Something- something,” said Logan, still frazzled, “Magically speaking,”

Thomas frowned.

“Logan, you’re allowed to do magic around the baby. It’s not like we think you’re dangerous,”

“Yes, well,” said Logan, a little hysterically, “Though I have absolutely no idea _why_ , I was fairly certain I was experiencing an impulse to do magic _on_ the baby, which is a much different scenario,”

He also didn’t mention that though it had abated somewhat, it was still there, like a second pulse in his ears. Logan resumed attempting to cram it back down wherever his magic stemmed from.

“Oh,” said Virgil, relaxing.

The adult heads in the room turned to him, and Brian shook Logan’s thumb with a little grunt.

“You made Logan Brian’s godfather, right?” said Virgil.

“No, they-”

“Yeah, obviously,” said Harley.

Logan blinked at him.

“Did you think it was going to be anyone in _my_ family?” said Harley incredulously.

“Also did you think we gave him his middle name for giggles, or-?”

“You were just trying to give him a gift,” said Virgil, kissing Logan’s temple and saving Logan from having to demand what, exactly, Brian’s middle name _was._

“Like White’s,” Virgil continued, “It’s normal,”

Logan immediately tried to retrieve his hand from Brian again, and failed, _again_ , because Brian squeezed and made a disgruntled noise and Logan couldn’t bear to break his grip.

“How long until this impulse abates?” said Logan quietly.

Virgil winced.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly, “It was months before Grettie let me give one to Trudi and it didn’t get any better until I did,”

“Well, just do it now, then,” said Harley, “V’s right there, he can walk you through it,”

Logan stared at him.

“What,” he said dumbly.

Thomas rolled his eyes.

“You’re a dork,”

“We grew up with _Patton,_ you know very well how ridiculous Harley’s statement is,”

“The _only_ reason Patton’s gift hurt him was because White couldn’t be around, and you know it,” said Thomas, “And I don’t think you have any intention of being away from Brian for longer than a week for, like… the rest of his life. You are already giving off super-uncle vibes,”

“But…”

Logan couldn’t think of anything to say. He was too busy being baffled that neither Thomas nor Harley looked remotely hesitant about the idea of Logan doing magic on their three hours old son.

Logan found he had some kind of obstruction in his throat.

“You- you’re sure?”

Thomas nodded, grinning, and Harley just shuffled a little closer on his knees with an encouraging smile.

“We knew we were giving him a fairy godfather, Berry, we’re not dumb,” laughed Thomas.

Logan huffed a slightly hysterical laugh.

Brian chose that moment to let out nearly a full monologue of nonsensical noises, and Logan couldn’t help but laugh at _him_ , too.

“You certainly have a lot to say, B,” he said, “It sounds like quite the story,”

Like a hook in his ribs, the words caught and pulled, and the thrumming seemed to move to focus on his hand, still clutched in Brian’s tiny fist.

Logan swallowed thickly.

“Do- do you think he would like to tell stories?” said Logan, his voice barely a croak.

Thomas leaned over and set his head on Logan’s shoulder.

“Sounds nice,”

“Lots of different applications,” said Harley, “Useful,”

“That it, then?” said Virgil.

Logan nodded, though he did wonder for a moment how he was going to do it when he couldn’t seem to speak.

Virgil murmured direction that Logan absorbed but didn’t quite hear, and then there was only the doing left.

“I give you this,” he said wetly, “To tell great stories. Happy or sad, exciting or comforting – all kinds, and all of them loved by those you tell them to,”

Where his thumb held Brian’s hand there was a blink-fast flash of a sunbeam, and the thrumming swelled and then released all at once. Brian squeaked loudly, clearly displeased, and yanked his hand back, but when Harley bounced him slightly he settled fairly quickly.

In the center of Brian’s palm, there was now a thumbprint – Logan’s thumbprint, dwarfing the little expanse of wrinkled, soft skin. It looked rather like someone had pressed it there with gold-leaf.

“No offense to White,” said Thomas fondly, “But yours is way less creepy looking,”

“Yeah, that’s a Winter thing, I think,” said Virgil, amused, “Trudi’s was black as pitch. Used to make people in town think she was possessed,”

Harley passed Brian to Thomas so he could get up off the floor, and they continued this game of pass-the-baby for the remainder of their time there. Brian was surprisingly calm throughout.

He would have to grow into the gift, obviously – a newborn couldn’t tell stories.

Although, to be fair, Logan had never heard infant babble quite so interesting. Whether or not it was the gift or just the fact that Logan had the best baby in the world for a nephew, he supposed he wasn’t ever going to know the difference anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> you can also find me on tumblr at @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors!


End file.
